Water purification is an important issue throughout the world. Water purification may be necessary for both industrial and non-industrial purposes. Difficulties with water purification can arise because of the diverse amounts of impurities in water, including polluted water and/or waste water from industrial processes.
Membrane distillation (MD) aims mainly at energy-efficient purification of highly contaminated waste water possessing a diverse amount of impurities. Membrane distillation is a thermally driven separation process that may be used to purify water in which separation is provided by a phase change across a barrier formed by a hydrophobic membrane for the liquid phase, but letting the vapor phase (e.g. water vapor) to pass through the membrane pores. The condensed water then coalesces to form droplets, which are then removed from the membrane, leaving the impurities behind.
Improvements in technology that can purify liquids, including water possessing a number of diverse contaminants, remain desirable.